as posted TheWest
Perth is losing the war on graffiti, with a survey of major councils throughout the metropolitan area revealing many are struggling to cope with soaring clean-up bills collectively costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year.
Many councils say they are fed up with vandals thumbing their nose at authorities and have demanded immediate reinstatement of a graffiti taskforce which was abandoned by Labor in 2002.
By far the worst hit is the City of Stirling, with 10,876 reports of graffiti in 2007-08, up from 6845 the previous year, and a massive clean-up bill of $658,000, despite initiatives to combat the problem.
The City of Swan also faced a big bill of $619,000 after recorded incidents almost doubled to 2458 from 1270 in a single year.
But almost every council is facing big increases in graffiti reports and clean-up bills.
They have had to install CCTV, employ graffiti removalists, set up hotlines and websites and provide anti-graffiti diversionary programs, among other measures.
According to the Office of Crime Prevention, the State Graffiti Hotline received 3724 reports of graffiti damage in its first year to August 2008 and 4805 reports via the Goodbye Graffiti website, but just two $1000 rewards for tips leading to cautions or charges were given out.
At the Town of Vincent the cleanup bill almost doubled from $36,375 to $63,700, with reports jumping from 1455 to 1882.
City of Joondalup Mayor Troy Pickard said that after the substantial increase in incidents in his suburbs — 3857 graffiti removals costing $497,789 — the city would lobby the State Government for the “long overdue” reinstatement of a graffiti task force.
He was keen to see harsher penalties for repeat offenders.
City of Bayswater Mayor Lou Magro said he had joined the cities of Stirling and Wanneroo in a regional partnership to tackle graffiti after his costs jumped 20 per cent to $165,723.
Graffiti was a “problem bigger than any one local government” and a problem the State Government must provide leadership and funding to tackle.
City of Gosnells Mayor Olwen Searle said graffiti attacks had cost his council $234,765 to clean.
He said it was time to call graffiti what it was — criminal damage — and jail offenders.
“Magistrates have the ability to fine these vandals up to $12,000 but do not apply the maximum fines or punishments . . . all our work is undermined when the vandals responsible walk away from court laughing at the authorities,” he said.
The City of Belmont was one of the only councils where incidents fell, to 10,012 in 2007-08 from 11,214 the previous year.
City of Perth executive officer Frank Edwards, whose council stumped up $360,000 in the past year and voted to spend an extra $197,000 to extend the removal service, said graffiti was a blight on the city.
Police Minister Rob Johnson yesterday blamed the previous Labor government for allowing the “scourge” of graffiti to proliferate.
He said his Government had committed to reintroducing the graffiti task force and to increasing the fines for graffiti vandals and retailers who sold spray paint to minors.
He declined to say when the measures would be introduced, saying they were part of the Liberals’ “100-day plan”.
“I am currently being briefed by the Police Commissioner about a range of issues, including graffiti, and will be better placed to comment on the details of our overall graffiti strategy once those briefings have concluded,” Mr Johnson said.
FLIP PRIOR
as posted TheWest
pity the journo didn't check their facts better, our mayor seems to be a HE and HIS name is somewhat perplexing : ( makes you wonder what other facts are wrong in the story, fact is you will see grafitti all over the place
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